- Hybrid Monday at the Freedom Movement’s Daily Newspaper
Hey, everyone …
It’s a holiday in the US (Martin Luther King Jr. Day), but instead of taking the day off we’re bringing you a full email / social media edition PLUS additional news stories, opinion pieces, and audio/video links here at our web edition (I’m not sure how many extras yet, as I’m writing this on Sunday). Enjoy!
A bit of crass commercialism:
If you’re looking for a new Internet Service Provider, I recommend Starlink. I’ve been using it for three months and so far it’s both less expensive and more reliable than my previous ISP (I moved further out into the country, where cable Internet didn’t reach).
If you sign up through the link below, you get your second month free AND I get a free month. Check it out at:
https://starlink.com/residential?referral=RC-DF-8980236-19330-50
Have a great day!
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily - Pentagon puts 1,500 troops on standby for possible use in Minnesota occupation
Source: National Herald [India]
“The Pentagon has placed around 1,500 active-duty soldiers on prepare-to-deploy orders amid escalating protests in Minnesota against the federal government’s immigration enforcement campaign, according to US media reports. Troops have been alerted as a contingency measure in case violence intensifies in the northern state, the Washington Post reported on Sunday, citing defence officials. It remains unclear whether the soldiers will ultimately be deployed. The White House said such preparations were routine, stating that the Pentagon must be ready ‘for any decision the President may or may not make.’ … The move comes days after President Donald Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act … In a post on his Truth Social platform last week, Trump warned that he would act if Minnesota’s leaders failed to stop protesters from confronting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) [gang members].” (01/18/26)
- Canada: Carney weighs sending soldiers to Greenland for military exercises with NATO allies
Source: CBC News [Canadian state media]
“Prime Minister Mark Carney is considering sending soldiers to Greenland for military exercises with North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies, as U.S. President Donald Trump threatens tariffs on European nations unless they let him purchase and control the semiautonomous island. Two senior Canadian officials have told CBC News that a set of contingency plans were drawn up last week and presented to the federal government. A Royal Canadian Air Force contingent is already taking part in a pre-planned NORAD exercise in Greenland, but the prime minister is weighing whether to send additional forces as part of sovereignty exercises the Danes are planning, which could include drills to protect the Arctic island’s critical infrastructure. Given the political implications of Canada joining and the potential blowback from the Trump administration, both sources said they’re not certain which way the government is leaning.” (01/18/26)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/carney-greenland-soldiers-trump-tariff-nato-denmark-9.7050621
- NH: Bishop warns clergy to prepare for “new era of martyrdom”
Source: KLFY 10 News
“New Hampshire Episcopal bishop is attracting national attention after warning his clergy to finalize their wills and get their affairs in order to prepare for a ‘new era of martyrdom.’ Bishop Rob Hirschfeld of the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire made his comments earlier this month at a vigil honoring Renee Good, who was [murdered] on Jan. 7 behind the wheel of her vehicle by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. … Hirschfeld’s speech cited several historical clergy members who had risked their lives to protect others, including mentioning New Hampshire seminary student Jonathan Daniels, who was shot and killed by a sheriff’s deputy in Alabama while shielding a young Black civil rights activist in 1965. ‘I have told the clergy of the Episcopal diocese of New Hampshire that we may be entering into that same witness,’ Hirschfeld said.” (01/18/26)
- Palestine: Israeli regime, Islamic Jihad whine about US regime’s lineup for “Gaza executive board”
Source: Deutsche Welle [German state media]
“Israel objected on Saturday to the US announcement of members of a so-called ‘Board of Peace’ executive board appointed to lead post-war Gaza, according to a US-brokered ceasefire agreement that came into force in October. US President Donald Trump on Friday announced the names of some of the people who are going to sit on the body that will oversee the transitional government in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory. … The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, which is considered a terrorist group by some countries, also criticized the makeup of the board, arguing it ‘came in accordance with Israeli criteria and to serve the interests of the occupation, in a clear indicator of preexisting bad intentions over the implementation of the terms of the [ceasefire] agreement.'” (01/17/26)
https://www.dw.com/en/israel-objects-to-us-lineup-of-gaza-executive-board/a-75550023
- Ukraine: Drone strike cuts power supply in Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia
Source: Reuters
“More than 200,000 consumers in the Russian-held part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region were left without electricity on Sunday, the Moscow-installed regional governor said, after a Ukrainian drone strike on Saturday. In a statement posted on Telegram, Yevgeny Balitsky said that work was ongoing to restore the power supply, but that almost 400 settlements remain without electricity. Temperatures are well below freezing throughout the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, around 75% of which is controlled by Russia.” (01/18/26)
- Trump’s Economic Belligerence is Driving Canada into China’s Arms
Source: Libertarian Institute
by José Niño“On January 16, 2026, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney stood beside Chinese President Xi Jinping to announce what he called a landmark agreement that fundamentally restructured trade relations between the two nations. The deal slashed tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles from 100% to 6.1% while China reduced levies on Canadian canola from 84% to approximately 15%. But the numbers themselves tell only part of the story. This agreement represents something far more consequential: the first major fracture in North American solidarity since World War II, driven not by ideological sympathy for Beijing, but by Washington’s increasingly erratic and aggressive behavior on the world stage.” (01/19/26)
- Donroe Doctrine: Catalyst for a US Strategic Contraction in the Indo-Pacific?
Source: Antiwar.com
by Harris Jenner“The capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on January 3, 2026, marked a watershed moment in international affairs. The operation’s significance lies not only in its brazen execution but in the geopolitical shockwave it triggered. Framed by President Donald Trump as a ‘law-enforcement’ strike against a ‘drug cartel’ leader, the move has since unleashed a cascade of global threats, alienated key allies, and signaled a profound shift in America’s role – from guarantor of a rules-based order to its primary disruptor. Analysts warn that this aggressive revival of Monroe Doctrine principles is precipitating an international credibility crisis, straining alliances, and may force a broad strategic contraction, including in the critical Indo-Pacific region.” (01/19/26)
- The Morality of a Mafia Boss
Source: Persuasion
by Francis Fukuyama“Although Donald Trump is a habitual liar about issues big and small, he is occasionally capable of surprising honesty. His statement to a group of New York Times reporters, quoted above, is one example. It contains two largely frank and correct assertions: first, that American international behavior is constrained by norms (i.e. ‘morality’) rather than law; and second, that the applicable norms are his personal ones, and not necessarily those shared by other nations. We should acknowledge the truth of the first, and be very frightened of the implications of the second.” (01/18/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/the-morality-of-a-mafia-boss
- The Donroe Doctrine is a Recipe for Two, Three … Many Iraqs
Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid“It all went off without a hitch. Donald Trump’s huge, beautiful, helicopter coup of 2026. After two years of bungling pretty much everything from tariffs to the Epstein cover-up, our dayglow Caesar rolled the dice in Venezuela, and he appears to have pulled off a high-octane putsch straight out of a cheesy 80s action flick. … The perfect war crime. The problem however, aside from the fact that all of this is totally fucking illegal in every court of law on the planet, is that we’ve seen this blockbuster before and it doesn’t end the way it begins. Afterall, the Second Iraq War went off without a hitch too, until it didn’t and then it was too late.” (01/18/26)
https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2026/01/the-donroe-doctrine-is-recipe-for-two.html
- Trump’s Plan to Seize Greenland is Simultaneously Evil, Illegal, and Counterproductive
Source: The Volokh Conspiracy
by Ilya Somin“It would alienate allies, impose US rule on an unwilling population, and blatantly violate both US and international law.The plan to impose tariffs on nations opposing the seizure is also illegal and harmful.” (01/18/26)
- From Inmost to Outmost: Consciousness and the Path to Liberty
Source: Mindset Shifts
by Barry Brownstein“Rather than a triumph of strength, collectivism is a symptom of a ‘primitive consciousness’ and is ultimately doomed to fail.” (01/17/26)
https://mindsetshifts.substack.com/p/from-inmost-to-outmost-consciousness
- Recipe vs. Result: Does the US Government Actually Exist?
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp“Does the US government, as described in the US Constitution, even exist? I say it doesn’t, and as evidence for my claim, I’m going to talk about recipes. That, you see, is what a constitution is: A recipe for government. It’s made of ingredients, instructions, and warnings. Ingredients for sugar cookies: 1 cup of butter, 2/3 cup of granulated sugar, and 2 cups of flour. Instructions: Mix the ingredients, form into individual cookies, bake at 325 degrees for 15 minutes. Cool/rest for 15 minutes. Warnings: Don’t over-bake! Don’t skip the cooling time! If I use vinegar instead of butter, salt instead of sugar, and garlic powder instead of flour, bake it as a whole mass for an hour at 450 degrees, then immediately serve it, I made something. But I think you’ll agree that what I made was NOT a batch of sugar cookies. … A recipe is powerless to prevent incompetent or mischievous cooks from ruining the dish.” (01/17/26)
- Congress Wants To Hand Your Parenting to Big Tech
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
by Joe Mullin“Lawmakers in Washington are once again focusing on kids, screens, and mental health. But according to Congress, Big Tech is somehow both the problem and the solution. … At the center of the debate is a bill from Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Brian Schatz (D-HI) called the Kids Off Social Media Act (KOSMA), which they say will protect children and ’empower parents.’ … But while the bill’s press release contains soothing language, KOSMA doesn’t actually give parents more control. Instead of respecting how most parents guide their kids towards healthy and educational content, KOSMA hands the control panel to Big Tech. That’s right—this bill would take power away from parents, and hand it over to the companies that lawmakers say are the problem.” (01/16/26)
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/01/congress-wants-hand-your-parenting-big-tech
- What Tyranny Looks Like Now: No Crowns, No Coups Just Unchecked Power
Source: CounterPunch
by John W Whitehead & Nisha Whitehead“In January 1776, Thomas Paine published Common Sense, a pamphlet that gave voice to the discontent of a nation struggling to free itself from a tyrannical ruler who believed power flowed from his own will rather than the consent of the governed. Paine’s warning was not theoretical. Two hundred and fifty years later, we find ourselves confronting the same dilemma — this time from inside the White House.” (01/16/26)
- The Campaign to Destroy Renee Good
Source: Wired
by Parker Molloy“After George Floyd’s murder at the hands of police in 2020, right-wing media circulated his criminal history and toxicology report to argue he was no martyr. After Trayvon Martin’s death in 2012, they fixated on his hoodie and his school suspension. With Good, gender and sexuality have replaced race, but it’s the same takeaway: They weren’t innocent enough to mourn.” (01/16/26)
- A newspaper based on unshakable ideals
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by Christa Case Bryant, Kurt Shillinger, Kenny D’Evelyn, & Casey Fedde“At a time when shifting corporate interests, market forces, and demographic trends are buffeting many news organizations, The Christian Science Monitor is different. We are published by a church. And that means our work is based on unshakable ideals that aren’t swayed by the latest algorithm. As we begin our 118th year of publication, our new leadership team is working to both articulate these ideals and enable the sort of journalism that best encapsulates our mission in today’s news ecosystem. To do this, we’ve been going back to our founding documents from 1908, when Mary Baker Eddy established The Christian Science Monitor. Our founder wrote that she established The Christian Science Monitor ‘to spread undivided the Science that operates unspent.’ What does that mean? Many of us over the years have grappled with this.” (01/16/25)
- Writs, Riots, and Redcoats: Hancock’s Spark of the Revolution
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Mike Maharrey“In an early confrontation between the customs officials and John Hancock, the British hoped that flexing their muscles would teach the colonists a lesson and cow them into submission. They were wrong. Instead, the crackdown sparked a willingness to physically resist unconstitutional taxation and British assertions of ‘unlimited’ power.” (01/17/26)
- Why Televisions Have Become So Cheap
Source: Independent Institute
by Scott Beyer“In the early 2000s, most Americans were still watching television on heavy cathode-ray tube sets. The average household TV was 25 inches, with a thick plastic frame, curved glass screen, and picture quality that now looks unwatchable. Flat screens existed but were luxury items, with plasma TVs starting at $2,000, rendering them aspirational tech rather than a mass-market option. Nowadays at Walmart, you can buy a 75-inch ultra-high-def ‘smart’ TV for under $500, with immersive sound, voice control, and other computerization that would’ve been science fiction in the TiVo days. This price flattening has occurred not just with televisions, but all consumer electronics, and has happened during the same period when more essential goods and services rose in price. It’s a great case study in what happens when industries are largely unregulated and exposed to competitive pressures, while others are heavily regulated or even socialized.” (01/17/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/01/17/why-televisions-have-become-so-cheap/
- Unattended Baggage, episode 325
Source: Unattended Baggage
“Struggling with senility and battling tri-polarism.” (01/17/26)
https://unattendedbaggage.substack.com/p/episode-325-struggling-with-senility
- The Good Fight, 01/17/26
Source: Yascha Mounk
“Ian Bassin on How to Save American Democracy from Trump.” (01/17/26)
https://writing.yaschamounk.com/p/ian-bassin-on-how-to-save-american